Years and Years (2019)

The critic hails Russell T Davies’ thrilling new show following one Manchester family through a realistically imagined near-future from 2019 to 2034. It singles out the writer’s trademark humour, compassion and kinetic energy for praise.

An ambitious, magnificent series that turns current political and technological anxieties into compelling, human drama centered on an extended British family.

The series is among the most emotionally involving and best of the year, centering on an ordinary family enduring rapid societal and technological upheaval through resilient personal bonds.

The review calls the near-future drama plausible and intriguing, praising how domestic detail and global trends are skilfully blended. It singles out Emma Thompson’s brilliant performance as the terrifying populist politician Vivienne Rook.

The review describes Davies brewing an anxious concoction of big issues and future fears in the first episode. It praises the creation of fleshy drama with a beating heart that thinks big urgent thoughts.

It is a gripping account of a society’s existential crisis that remains compelling by focusing on one family, though it gets a bit ludicrous shoehorning everyone into current events.

The ambitious series about the Lyons family leaping through a turbulent future offers plenty to think about but the critic is not yet convinced it qualifies as great drama.

It nails the masochistic impulse to consume news but treats the Lyons family as caricatures and feels like it is sadistically frying ants under a magnifying glass.

The critic finds the series only really works as a black comedy lampooning the well-off and out-of-touch, but is hollow as a cautionary drama overall.

The critic finds sharp satire buried under an avalanche of issues in the overstuffed state-of-the-nation drama. It notes the writer’s skill but complains the drama is bursting at the seams.

The critic finds the series a riveting vehicle for pure dystopian dread, praising its step-by-step portrayal of societal decay and the unsettling realism that implicates comfortable viewers.

Russell T Davies’ energetic new drama holds a mirror up to modern times and gets off to an audacious start full of chutzpah, but everything is underscored by bleakness.

It is wild and ambitious, a show about everything all at once that is stunning but rather dizzying and chaotic, with terrific performances but some elements feeling lightweight.